


Duck & Weave

by softestpunk



Series: (Witcher) Prompt Meme Fics [4]
Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher (Video Game), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types, Wiedźmin | The Witcher Series - Andrzej Sapkowski
Genre: M/M, Prompt Fic, teeny tiny amounts of violence toward Geralt, totally accidental
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-09-01 07:48:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16760983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softestpunk/pseuds/softestpunk
Summary: Prompt: “Teach me to fight.”After a bandit attack, Dandelion has a request.





	Duck & Weave

“What?” Geralt asked, not positive he’d heard right.

“Teach me to fight,” Dandelion repeated, suddenly standing.

It was just the two of them, on the road to Novigrad. Dandelion probably thought that Geralt was just doing him a favour, but there was more to it than that.

Geralt, much to his eternal dismay, actually  _ liked _ Dandelion’s company.

“Put the sword down,” Geralt said, sitting back and stretching out sore muscles.

“I don’t want to keep being useless in a fight. Please, Geralt,” Dandelion said, all  _ feeling _ , and dammit.  _ Dammit _ .

No matter how hard he tried, he could never say no. Not when someone asked him  _ nicely _ .

If anyone ever found out that the bare minimum level of politeness was his one weakness, he was fucked.

“Fine,” Geralt said, getting up with more effort than he would have liked. He understood. They’d gotten into a scrap with a couple of bandits who apparently couldn’t identify a witcher when they saw one, or were so desperate that they didn’t care.

He’d pushed Dandelion out of the way to keep him safe, perfectly capable of taking on two either stupid or desperate bandits at once. In fact, he’d put all his energy into making sure their attention  _ stayed _ on him. If either of them had gone for Dandelion, well…

Geralt would never have forgiven himself if something happened to him.

“Put the sword down anyway,” he added, dusting himself off and stretching his arms over his head.

“Why?” Dandelion asked.

“Because I can’t teach you how to use one properly in an afternoon,” Geralt said. “But I  _ can _ teach you some unarmed techniques. Probably more useful to you anyway. You keep waving that sword around, one of us is gonna get hurt, and I don’t want it to be me.”

He didn’t want it to be Dandelion, either.

Dandelion put the sword down without any further argument, which seemed like a godsdamned  _ miracle _ , but Geralt wasn't about to complain.

“Okay, stand in front of me,” Geralt instructed, waving to the space in front of him.

“You're not about to hit me, are you?” Dandelion asked, apparently just now realising that learning to fight would involve… fighting.

“Not if you pay attention.” Geralt shrugged. “I'm gonna throw a punch, slow. You knock it out of the way with the flat of your hand, okay?”

Dandelion nodded, brows drawn together in concentration.

Geralt swung so slowly it was actually hard to manage it, but Dandelion  _ did _ manage to block, and they could always speed up later.

Secretly, Geralt loved being called on to teach what he knew. Not many people cared to find out, most of them were just happy to pay him to  _ do _ it.

Or unhappy to pay him to do it, actually.

Dandelion, though, was eager to listen and quick to learn, smart under all those ridiculous ruffles and pleats and gaudy colours. He ducked and wove like Geralt told him, paying attention for once in his life, and within ten minutes Geralt was panting lightly and grinning broadly, a puppy with someone to play with.

Which was around the time Dandelion swung for him and he failed to duck, the blow connecting with his cheekbone.

“Geralt!” Dandelion gasped, withdrawing his hand as though he’d been burned. “I’m sorry, I… let me see.”

“It’s fine,” Geralt said, because it was--Dandelion had probably hurt his  _ hand _ worse than Geralt had hurt his face--but that didn’t stop the bard from marching over to him and pulling his hand out of the way.

Geralt closed his eyes as Dandelion’s cool fingertips traced along his cheek, hissing as he pressed against the sore spot. It wasn’t even hard enough to  _ bruise _ , but Dandelion obviously felt guilty about it, and Geralt…

Geralt liked to be touched, and his friend’s fingers were gentle, and this was kind of nice.

“Try to hit anyone you actually plan to hurt a little harder,” Geralt murmured, his lips turning up into a smile as Dandelion sighed and, finally, decided there was nothing he could  _ do _ .

Dandelion huffed, and Geralt didn’t need to see his eyes to imagine the dramatic eyeroll he was being treated to right now.

The brush of lips against his cheek, then, was one hell of a surprise. Geralt’s eyes opened automatically, his lips parting just a fraction, shock--and awe--at what Dandelion had just done washing over him in one warm, tingly wave.

Oh.

“I can’t make it better any other way,” Dandelion murmured. “But thank you. For everything.”

Uh oh.

Geralt raised his hand to his cheek again, hoping desperately that he wasn’t blushing as obviously as he felt like he was.    
This could  _ only _ go well.


End file.
